Custom HSS for Strat®

US$99.00

Warranty:

At ObsidianWire we use only the absolute best components and craftsmanship. We are so confident that you will experience years of trouble free use, that we guarantee it with an industry leading, three year warranty.
If you feel that your Pro-Wired Electronics are not working like they should, please contact us and we will fix or replace them as soon as possible.

Built with a couple of cool features designed to take your experience more than a few notches up on the fun scale.

When building a Strat with a humbucker in the bridge position, and two single coils for the middle and neck positions respectively, there is always ta toss up between choosing 500k controls which will retain the life of a humbucker, or 250k controls which will tame the harsh highs that are inherent in single coils.

We say 'why choose? '. The ObsidianWire Custom HSS has some clever wiring, which harnesses the power of a 5 way superswitch, and a couple of extra resistors to add new life to your humbucker, as it sees the 500k controls that it deserves. Move through the switch positions it and automatically switches back to 250k for the middle and neck pickups so you still get the full and clear rhythm and spank that Stratocasters® are famous for.

Furthermore, when you move your switch into the second position the humbucker coils split with one of them pairing up with the middle pickup for a traditional second position Strat tone. To take advantage of this feature you will need a four conductor bridge pickup which is standard issue for many modern and even vintage re-production releases.

To make your tone crystal clear at lower volumes we also include an ObsidianWire Custom Spec Treble Bleed Mod. This prevents tone 'muddiness' at low volumes by allowing high frequencies to pass along a separate path to your amp, rather than being stopped short by the increasing resistance at the volume control.

Crystal Clear Tone

To make your tone crystal clear at lower volumes we also include an ObsidianWire Custom Spec Treble Bleed Mod. This prevents tone 'muddiness' at low volumes by allowing high frequencies to pass along a separate path to your amp, rather than being stopped short by the increasing resistance at the volume control.

Reviews (20)

Colin20th May 2019

Great Upgrade

I recently installed a humbucker on my strat, and after using it with the original 250k pots I felt like I wasn't getting the full sound out of the pickup. I decided to try the obsidian wire harness after all the good reviews (and with my hatred of soldering) and I have to say this product totally lives up to the hype. Super easy to install, sounds incredible, and if I ever want to swap pickups in the future I'm sure it is going to be a breeze! I would say the only reason you might not want to get this is if you are in to adding other mods like switches or push pulls or the like, but if you are only going to be switching pick ups this is hands down the best way to go. Definitely let's the humbucker ring clear but still keeps the single coils from doing their ice pick impression. Now they just need to make one for an SG.... (Hint hint)

Spencer14th May 2019

HSS Harness

The HSS wiring harness brings an accessibility to the craft that is rarely seen. It allowed me to in a way practice wiring pickups, and better understand where and why the connections go where they go.
It also made my Lace Alumitones sound badass

Tom Ball27th Apr 2019

Worked like a charm!

I just updated my SSS strat to HSS with a Seymour Duncan Little '59 bridge pickup, using the Custom HSS for Strat wiring. It was easy to install and sounds great! For folks installing this in their own guitars, I strongly recommend the ObsidianWire Install Help page (https://obsidianwire.com/install-help/), as it answered my question on mapping the new pickup's leads correctly, and fixed two issues I had. Great product, great support!

Tim Smith19th Mar 2019

HSS Strat Wiring Harness

Excellent design and excellent build quality. Installation is crazy simple and beautifully clean. All components top shelf. Tone every bit as good as the custom wiring I had installed years ago. I did need to make one soldered connection. The documentation does not clearly state where the bare wire from the humbucker harness should connect. Typically, it is connected to the same ground point as the ground wire from the humbucker.. I was about to do just that (i.e. connect to port 7 of the terminal block), but opted to contact support and verify. I was advised to connect the bare wire to the separate ground point terminal on the circuit board. To do so, I had to solder an extension on the bare wire. Yes, I could have stripped back the humbucker harness a couple of inches, but dealing with five 34AWG wires is a more difficult than soldering on a single 2 inch 22AWG wire. I love the fact that I can now swap pickups or entire pickguards by simply loosening a couple of terminal screws. Well done, Obsidian Wire! Now if only you would offer an HH version...

ML14th Jan 2019

Best upgrade a Strat can get!

Bought a new set of pickups for my Strat. But what I was really excited about was the ObsidianWire Custom HSS wiring harness I was about to install..
Talk about painless. Other than being the cleanest looking piece of kit I’d ever seen (flawless looking solder connections, beautiful handiwork) it was the easiest to install.
And performance? Wow. I mean, seriously, Wow.
Looking forward to putting the SSS version with Blender Mode in my other Strat. And the Les Paul version in my Epiphone. (If you really want to be sold on ObsidianWire just check out Darrell Braun Guitar youtube channel for his Epiphone upgrade.)
Hands down, the best upgrade your favorite Strat or Les Paul can get.

Andrew23rd Dec 2018

Pro wire HSS

Really well made relatively easy install. I needed to widen the hole leading to the output jack as the wires included are much beefier than the originals in my vintage mod Squier body. I also needed to widen out body cavity slightly as the pots are larger and were rubbing on the cavity wall.. Once done it sounds great. I like being able to roll off the tone on my humbucker which this harness allows.

Salvatore18th Oct 2018

Custom HSS For Strat

I received this wiring kit to modify my Higway HSS stratocaster, I am very satisfied, both for the easy installation and for giving my strat other tone for the part of the humbucker. I say that I am very satisfied with this kit.
I think now I will also buy the Trad. Vintage & Custom Blender version for another SSS Stratocaster.

Patrick Stowers25th Sep 2018

Cool Product

The product feels and looks quality. The installation was a little more hassle than I initially expected but I can tell that switching pickups in the future, with it now installed, will be sped up drastically. My biggest issue is that I noticed a bit of high frequency loss on the single coil positions (pprobably due to the 500K pots), to the point where I will probably now swap out the original Fender single coil with a single coil sized humbucker (I'm more of a humbucker person anyway). At least it'll be an easy switch now with the wiring harness installed.

John Jacobs29th Aug 2018

Strad Trad Vintage & Custom Blender

Installation was straightforward once I figured out that the ground wires were all colored and the hot wires were all white. I also had to guess which wires were the string ground and the spare ground since I had never opened the guitar before. These items were not stated in the instruction diagram, I had to find it on a google search. I also had to solder and lengthen two of the ground wires which were way too short in my 26 year old American Strad. The finished product has a clearer and better sound than ever before. It took me about 75 minutes total.

Sean Creagh30th Jul 2018

Obsidian SSH Wiring Harness

A++. 10/10 construction.

Mike5th Jun 2018

Hello!! Installed a Custom HSS in my Strat.

Hello!! Installed a Custom HSS in my Strat. Just want to report that it's awesome!! Very well made and love the ability to control humbucker tone now. Solder-less is the way to go. Love the included picks too!!

Ted7th May 2018

Completely revamped

These is a great way to get more out of your strat. I have purchased all new pickups over the past year and still was not getting the desired "spanky" tone. This wiring harness is perfect. I love the tonal possibilities. A necessary upgrade to make your MIM strat pro quality. Also, thanks guys for sending me a black pickup cover :)

Rick17th Apr 2018

very pleased

I just installed the wiring kit for my HSS Strat. I am so pleased with your equipment and the value you offer in these kits. Today was the first time I had ever opened up a guitar and really had a lot of concern about doing this project. Honestly, installing the new tuners was much more difficult than this wiring kit. Also, your advise is very good about waiting for the new pickups, the sound is like having a different instrument all together. (Now I know what the tuning knobs do to change the sound, before they did nothing.) I just want you to know I am very pleased and I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

Michael Lussos18th Mar 2018

Top Quality!

Works Great, Thank Guys!

michael hidalgo5th Mar 2018

SSH CIRCUIT

Did not have enough room for the wiring in one of my custom strats so i figured I would make it happen with the ssh circuit. I had to route a little cavity space in the body because the switch is thick. Very simple and quick modification. Great board

Jonny F15th Dec 2017

No Stress Wiring

I like to change my electric guitar pickups on a regular basis and decided to go solder less with the custom HSS for Strat kit. Nice and easy to install and very quick. Great sound quality too. Overall, a very well built wiring harness with high end components. I have already bought a second one for my other Stratocaster.

Gage Smet 26th Sep 2017

Was thinking...

I was kinda skeptical of the quality of your products, and thought I would need to buying a soldering iron, but its as easy as striping a wire and wiring it correctly, but mainly I wanted to get a new switch as well as pots, and this makes it so easy, because I plan on running a SD AHB-1b blackouts, and two SDBR-1b duckbuckers for my strat (trying to get heavy tone and dist. but keep as much of the fender strat twang as possible) and the easy to wire board will be helpful and aid me so I don't have to deal with damn messy soldering iron.

Ricci Peyroux18th Jul 2017

Obsidian HSS

I have to say I'm really impressed with the Obsidian HSS wiring harness, The build quality is top notch, and the simplicity to install really delivered.It only took a few minutes to connect and be up and running. I love to customise my guitars and love to play around, so having the ability to swap out pickups without a messy soldering iron is fantastic, and the wiring is super clean giving a professional finish. I'll be intending to use the obsidian wiring harness in future project guitars -I highly recommend- Guitar sounds great ( oh did I mention the extra guitars picks too. nice touch)

Stratblues 2310th Apr 2017

Easy Install, , Quality Components, Great Sound!

Finally got to install this harness and the results are awesome! It was an easy install, although, I had to go to the Seymour Duncan website to get the wire color codes (and, they use the same terminology as used by Obsidian Wire... i.e. South Start, South Finish/End etc. I would definitely use Obsidian Wire again for future rewires/mods.

Tom23rd Feb 2017

Freedom from solder

The Obsidian is a first-rate approach to guitar building. The one segment of guitar building and restoration has always been soldering. The fit and finish of the ssh wire harness is impeccable. In the past, I was a production planner working on electronic parts, including design and building of wire harness boards. and can say from experience the wire harness I received is better than the Fender wire harness on my Stratocaster.

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Additional Info

Warranty:

At ObsidianWire we use only the absolute best components and craftsmanship. We are so confident that you will experience years of trouble free use, that we guarantee it with an industry leading, three year warranty.
If you feel that your Pro-Wired Electronics are not working like they should, please contact us and we will fix or replace them as soon as possible.